Baxter International Inc. said Thursday that it has entered into an "advanced supply agreement" with the United Kingdom's Department of Health to supply it with the company's bird flu vaccine as an option should the World Health Organization declare a pandemic. The agreement could be worth tens of millions of dollars to the Deerfield-based medical products giant over the next four years as it builds momentum for its vaccines business. British health officials said they signed more than $300...

By Alice Woodhouse HONG KONG, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Hong Kong began culling 20,000 chickens and suspended imports of fresh poultry from mainland China for 21 days on Tuesday after the discovery of the H7N9 bird flu virus in a batch of live chicken from the southern province of Guangdong. The government order took effect two days before celebrations begin for Chinese New Year, when poultry sellers generally anticipate a boom. Authorities also...

France said Thursday that it may have found its first case of the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus in domestic birds while an Austrian official warned of spotty European preparation for a possible outbreak. The developments came as the European Union prepared for urgent talks Friday on how to battle the disease, which has spread over the past year from Asia to Africa and Europe. Austrian Health Minister Maria Rauch-Kallat said Thursday that governments' readiness to deal with a...

By Larry Habegger and Dani Burlison, Special to Tribune Newspapers | August 22, 2013

Brazil: Three men accused of gang-raping an American tourist in Rio de Janeiro have been convicted and sentenced to as long as 49 years in prison. A 14-year-old suspect will be tried in a separate hearing. The assault was on a minibus March 30, and the 21-year-old victim and her boyfriend were severely beaten, robbed and dumped in the nearby city of Itaborai. The case prompted several other rape victims to report assaults on Brazil's public buses, many against tourists. The rapes have drawn scrutiny about the safety...

South Korean quarantine officials are set to slaughter 273,000 poultry after an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, the Agriculture Ministry and health officials said Saturday. The outbreak occurred at a chicken farm in Cheonan, about 60 miles south of Seoul, earlier this week, the fifth such outbreak since November, said Lee Joo Won, a ministry official. South Korea culled 5.3 million birds during the last known outbreak of bird flu in 2003. The H5N1 virus has killed...

As a zoo CEO drives to work, a radio news reportannounces that dead birds were found in a park near the zoo. In this hypothetical scenario involving the Lincoln Park Zoo, the CEO arrives at the office to find a flurry of voice mails from reporters. But before there is a chance to respond, the phone rings: The H5N1 virus has been confirmed as the cause of death. It is not yet known if the bird flu strain can spread to humans. But there's no panic. The zoo's general curator, Dave...

Baxter International Inc. said Tuesday that it has won a contract from the Austrian government for an option to buy 16 million doses of pandemic influenza vaccine, enough to inoculate the country's entire population. With the three-year agreement, Austria is "reserving future supply so that, if a pandemic hits, they'll have priority access to vaccine," said Deborah Spak, a spokeswoman for Deerfield-based Baxter. The company also has an agreement with the British...

LONDON (Reuters) - A new and deadly strain of bird flu that emerged in China in February but seems to have petered out in recent months could reappear later this year when the warm season comes to an end - and could spread internationally, scientists said on Monday. A study by researchers in China and Hong Kong found only one human case of the H7N9 bird flu strain has been identified since early May. In the preceding months, the virus, which was unknown in humans...

The European Union's first outbreak of lethal H5N1 bird flu in commercial poultry was confirmed Saturday in France, the EU's largest poultry producer. France's farming ministry said lab tests confirmed H5N1 in turkeys at a farm in the southeast Ain region, where thousands of the birds were found dead Thursday. The spread of bird flu to commercial stocks in France served as a sobering sign for other developed countries that consider themselves well protected against...

(For other news from Reuters Health Summit, click on http://www.reuters.com/summit/Health13) May 6 (Reuters) - The U.N. World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are already working with samples of the new H7N9 bird flu virus in China to make a vaccine, if one is needed. The following are some key facts about vaccines, drugs and avian influenza: * The WHO and CDC prepare samples of the virus to give to industrial manufacturers.

Tests have confirmed the presence of the H5N1 bird flu strain in poultry found dead in two suburban Moscow districts, an agriculture official said Saturday, in the first such outbreak to be recorded so close to the Russian capital. Alexei Alexeyenko, a spokesman for the federal agricultural oversight agency, said that laboratory results showed the strain of the virus in the Odintsovo and Domodedovo districts, west and south of Moscow respectively, where two dozen birds died last...

(For other news from Reuters Health Summit, click on http://www.reuters.com/summit/Health13) * Virus could mutate -CDC director * If virus mutates, could cause "severe pandemic" * H7N9 began infecting people in February By Julie Steenhuysen NEW YORK, May 6 (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the current strain of bird flu that is causing illness and deaths in China cannot spark a pandemic in...

Three domestic ducks have died of bird flu in eastern Romania, but authorities said Friday they had not confirmed whether the birds were infected by the H5N1 strain that experts are tracking for fear it could mutate and spawn a human flu pandemic. There are several strains of bird flu but only a few are deadly. Agriculture officials said they strongly suspected that tests now under way in Britain would confirm the birds were infected with H5N1. The birds were found in a village...

* H7N9 strain has killed 24 people in China * Scientists say it is jumping from birds to humans * Evidence of person-to-person spread would be worrisome By Kate Kelland LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) - A new strain of bird flu that is causing a deadly outbreak among people in China is a threat to world health and should be taken seriously, scientists said on Wednesday. The H7N9 strain has killed 24 people and infected more than 125, according to the Geneva-based...

Officials in Saudi Arabia said Tuesday some 158,000 chickens had been killed after the deadly H5N1 bird flu strain was found at a farm. The birds were killed in Kharaj province, south of the capital, Riyadh, according to a statement by the Agriculture Ministry. About 475 workers were tested, but no human infections were found. The ministry said more than 4.5 million fowl have been killed in provinces around the capital, but it did not specify when the killing took place. ...

A 12-year-old girl who was hastily buried by torchlight was infected with the H5N1 strain of bird flu, officials said Monday, marking the fourth Turkish child to die of the disease and the country's 20th human case. Experts awaited the results of tests on three children hospitalized with symptoms in Istanbul. The latest fatality, Fatma Ozcan, died Sunday in the eastern city of Van but initially had tested negative for H5N1. The Health Ministry ordered new tests after her 5-year-old...

The global threat that most preoccupies the world's business leaders is the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, according to a study released Thursday at the World Economic Forum. Other global risks, such as terrorist attacks and the possibility of an even bigger oil price shock, were deemed just as dangerous but less likely to happen in the coming year, said the "Global Risks 2006" report. H5N1 has ravaged poultry stocks in Asia since 2003 and recently spread to Europe. World health...